Tea Party Sharing
Dear Friends,
After I spoke at a church, the pastor shared with me: “There are several people in our church who are of
the somewhat militaristic and of tea party persuasions, so I was a bit anxious about what response you
would get when you talk about peace. I was glad to see how well you were received. I did not hear one
complaint. I felt you opened our eyes to a new world; you gently but deeply challenged us in good ways.”
After my presentation at the Nazarene Church in Princeton, IL, Laura Root, the pastor, spent a good
five minutes telling the congregation how much she appreciated my talk. I than received many sincere
comments of thanks and over $100 from individuals to support my work.
At another talk, one of the attendees, a college professor, told me: “I really debated whether I should
come to your presentation tonight because one of my students, who is involved in CPT, accused me and
other teachers of being off the wall because of our political views. He even got on the internet and did it
publicly. So I feared that you might be like that.” I responded, “It is a real challenge to be a peacemaker
as it is so easy to slip back into that wrong thinking and be unfairly judgmental and think everyone else
is wrong. I have had my own journey that took me through this stage too. One of the hardest things for
peacemakers is to be peaceful.” The teacher afterwards, said “I would like to invite you to speak to my
classes some time.”
I gave four presentations this week at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Students asked a lot of
good questions and the college is beginning to revive its peace and religion department. None of the
students had heard of CPT before, so I felt that the presentations were timely.
I’m leaving for Bogota, Colombia, on April 16th and will return to Chicago on June 8th. I plan to spend time
in Bogota, Barranca, Bucaramango, Cali, Sincelejo, and Baranquilla.
Say a prayer that my sharing there would be hopeful and encouraging to all and be a part of bringing
peace and justice to Colombia. Also, I am going to have to walk quite a bit in Colombia, so please pray
that my injured knee would heal.
Shalom,
Jim
April 16, 2012
amigos, un acontecimiento esperanzador este es un acontecimiento esperanzador! Hace dos años, Etiopía era un caso estancado. El gobierno parecía estar perdiendo el control. La mayoría de las personas Oromo estaban inquietas bajo una regla que parecía robarles su lugar. La tradicionalmente poderosa Amhara se amotinó. Un estado de emergencia trajo silencio en la superficie, pero debajo de la nación se arremolinaba. Una Guerra civil amenazaba. Un extranjero fue asesinado. El turismo disminuyó. Finalmente, el primer ministro renunció. La iglesia oró fervientemente. Luego, inesperadamente, hace ocho meses, el relativamente desconocido Abiy Ahmad fue elegido primer ministro. Lo que siguió fue igualmente imprevisto. En un audaz y valiente discurso de aceptación; Ahmad anunció una política de paz, amor y unidad para la nación y sus relaciones con el resto del mundo. Hizo grandes promesas y para sorpresa en un mundo cínico de promesas políticas, las cumplió. "Necesita...
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